Kenya’s Kelvin Kiptum yesterday won the men’s London Marathon in the second-fastest time in history, while the Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan staged a remarkable rally to win the women’s event in the Olympic track champion’s first race over the distance.
Twenty-three-year-old Kiptum broke the course record with an astonishing time of 2 hours, 1 minute, 25 seconds.
Having broken clear of the field, Kiptum — who became the third-fastest male marathon runner of all time on his debut in Valencia in December last year — faded toward the finish and missed Eliud Kipchoge’s world record by 18 seconds.
Photo: Reuters
“I am so happy with the result,” Kiptum said. “I don’t know what to say right now, I am just grateful.”
Geoffrey Kamworor made it a Kenyan one-two, finishing second in 2:04.23, with Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola third in 2:04.59.
British distance great Mo Farah, competing in his last marathon before retiring, finished ninth in 2:10.28.
Photo: Reuters
Earlier, it looked as if 30-year-old Hassan’s debut marathon would end in disappointment.
The 5,000m and 10,000m Olympic gold medalist from the COVID-19-delayed 2020 Tokyo Games had been in the leading group, but dropped back and was holding her side after the hour mark.
It would have been impressive enough had the Ethiopian-born Dutch runner — a Muslim who had been fasting due to Ramadan — simply completed the course on the rainswept streets of the British capital, as she then grabbed her hip and stopped to stretch off the injury.
However, Hassan recovered to rejoin the leaders with 4.8km to go.
Despite making a mess of collecting a drink from a water station, she recovered and even offered rival Yalemzerf Yehualaw, last year’s winner, a swig from her bottle.
Hassan then burst clear in a sprint finish to win in a time of 2:18.33.
Kenya’s Alemu Megertu was second in 2:18.37, with compatriot and Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir third in 2:18.38.
This was the first time Jepchirchir had been defeated in a major marathon race.
“It was just amazing. I never thought I would finish a marathon and here I am winning it,” Hassan told the BBC.
“I had a problem with my hip, which made me stop, but it started to feel a little bit better and then I missed one of the drinks stations,” she said. “I didn’t practice that part of the race because I have been fasting.”
“At 20km I knew that I could kick on, because I didn’t feel that tired and I didn’t care how I finished, I just wanted to get there,” Hassan said. “I wasn’t thinking about winning or how fast I was going to be, and I think that was a good thing for me today.”
Marcel Hug won a fifth men’s wheelchair race in London, just six days after winning the Boston Marathon, with the Swiss star shattering his own course record in a time of 1:23.43.
Australia’s Madison de Rozario, the 2018 champion, won the women’s wheelchair race, edging out four-time champion Manuela Schar in a sprint finish.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that
RSS